Cannon Fire
by JellyfishnamedSquid
Summary: Sasha "Cannon" Buchanan has always been a force to be reckoned with at Firehouse 51. Not only is she the only female member of Squad 3, but a Lieutenant at that. Growing up with Kelly Severide it was all but confirmed that she would have a future as a firefighter, because there was no way she'd let the boys have all the fun.
1. Chapter 1

**S1E1:**

Firehouse 51

A young and enthusiastic Peter Mills arrives as the new candidate for Firehouse 51, he is greeted by Joe Cruz brings who gives him a quick tour of the house. The boys made their way around the firehouse and eventually found Sasha Buchanan giving a young 3rd grade class their own tour of the firehouse. The kids were watching her in amazement that this woman was in fact a firefighter.

"Alright kids, this here is our new candidate," she looks up at him expectantly. Through her long eyelashes, she could see that the young candidate was mindlessly ogling her.

Cruz jumped in with, "This is Peter Mills,"

"Mills ha? Well, welcome aboard, and try not to lose any children," she said walking toward him, "Good luck candidate." She winked and smirked at the young lad and leaving him to the mercy of the curious kids and their questions.

Walking away from the 3rd grade class tour she heads to the squad table, occupied by her team. She can already hear Kelly trying to make snarky comments toward Matt, they'd been going at each other ever since Darden's accident. Even though everyone knows it wasn't Casey's fault, that Andy was always hard headed and did without thinking, Kelly still liked to point out Casey's part in the events that lead to Andrew Darden's death a month ago.

She hadn't been on shift that particular shift, for that she was thankful. Andy had always been a close friend of hers and Kelly's, ever since kindergarten. It was hard for her to make friends as a young child, something she never really understood. It was just her luck that she would become such close friends with Kelly Severide and Andrew Darden, class clowns and then later would become notorious bad boys.

"Who wants to try on a helmet?"

She turned back to the class tour and analysed the young Peter Mills, tempted to make a comment about the candidate being so close in age to the kids.

"So, this is called a pass alarm. Now, if a firefighter is totally still for more than 18 seconds, a loud alarm goes off until he moves again,"

"Why?" one of the very few kids who was paying attention asked,

"Well if he's hurt or trapped, we'll know where to find him."

"I'd just like to point out that girls can be firefighters too! And pretty badass ones at that" she yelled over to the group and more pointedly to the candidate. She heard a few sniggers from the kids as one of the little girls stood up and ran over to the squad table,

"My daddy was a firefighter, my best friend is a firefighter, and there was no way I was gonna let the boys have all the fun" she smiled and watched as a little dark-haired girl smiled in amazement.

"Now this house is special because it has a Rescue Squad. Squad 3 serves a big piece of the city, they're experts in water rescue, extraction. They're basically the best of the best."

"Peter Mills, you're making me blush" she smiled over at him, getting a smirk from Kelly

One of the other girls asked him why he wasn't a part of the Squad to which he answered that he one day hoped to join them. It was when he said that his father had been a part of Squad 4 back in the day that Sasha tensed, remembering her father had also served in Squad 4 with Henry Mills. It took her a few moments to realise that Matt and Kelly were bickering again, acting like children in front of children. Classy.

"You should know that they make the Rescue helmets extra big to fit their heads"

"I resent that Casey, you know I have to fit my ponytail in there most days. It ain't easy to tame this"

As the boys continued their passive aggressive argument Sasha saw that Peter Mills was trying to follow the animosity. Anyone could see in his eyes that maybe being in this firehouse was not as magical as he'd been raised to believe. Sensing the tension, she stood up and called for the kids to follow her, taking young Peter Mills along to show them the fireman's pole.

"So, Peter Mills, you wanna be a member of Squad 3?"

"Yes ma'am, hopefully I can- "

"Let me give you some advice candidate. Best to just keep your head down, do your job and do it well. Then you can start thinking about Squad. Don't let the boys hear you talking like that so early on in your candidacy. They don't take too well to crows.."

"Oh, I didn't- I was just- "

"Oh, and by the way," she waited for him to stop his stuttering, "You call me ma'am again, I'ma be forced to kick your butt in front of all these kids" she laughed a little bit when he stiffened.

She decided that she quite liked this candidate.

 _Car accident. Columbus Drive Bridge. Ambulance 61. Engine 51. Truck 81. Squad 3._

"Time to go to work Candidate." She smiled, "Sorry kids, Peter Mills has to go be a hero."

The kids cheered in delight watching the firehouse kick into action as all the firefighters started gearing up to head out. Sasha started making her way to the Squad truck, passing her hand over the 3-headed dog on the door when she felt someone come up behind her,

"You got a thing for the candidate now?"

"Come on Kelly. You can't be the only one to break my heart," she said with a wink and climbed into the Squad truck.

Driving toward the crash site, Sasha couldn't help but think back to her first ride on truck as a candidate. Of course, it was a lot harder to earn the respect of the men in the Firehouse, being the only girl around, but in time, they helped her become the skilled firefighter she was now.

Columbus Drive Bridge

Arriving at the site, she could see that 2 cars had crashed. The first was occupied by a woman and a young girl, who she assumed was her daughter. Sasha ran over Lieutenant Casey as he assessed the immediate dangers facing the occupants. He turned to the approaching Rescue team and yelled for them to get the Jaws.

Sasha moved out of the way, allowing Kelly and Capp to make their way back to truck, knowing that she wouldn't be needed for this particular part of the Rescue. Years ago, Sasha knew that she would never be a part of a Squad team if she didn't specialize in a certain type of rescue. So, she sought to use her high school swimming experience and college education to become a specialist in water rescue, Hazardous Material and Electronics specializations.

"He's in the Water! The Driver! He was ejected!"

When she heard those words and confirmation from Chief Bowden, she turned back to the Squad truck to change into her Scuba gear.

"Oh, Jesus Canon, put it away!" she heard one of her teammates say from the other end of the rig,

"Oh Capp, let's not pretend you don't love looking at my ass," she laughed and headed out toward the Chief, awaiting instructions for their drop.

"Alright, Cannon and me are goin. Capp and Hadley on rig and run the line."

As we started to climb over the bridge railing and start descending to the river, she hears a commotion from the other firefighters, with an unhappy transmission from the Chief cancelling the dive, "No one is in the water."

She could already tell that Kelly was rolling his eyes, mumbling about the incompetence of some of Truck 81's members,

"Alright boys, bring me up. Momma needs to get out of this cold ass river."

There is still a lot going on around her when she gets back on level ground. She sees that Gabby and Shay have both left for the hospital,

"Was the little girl alright?" she asked no one in particular, hoping one of these men would stop moping long enough to answer her,

"Dawson said something about a Becky or something? They rushed her off to Lakeshore."

It was Peter Mills, resident hero, "Well well, if it isn't our new candidate. Tell me, were you a line-backer in another life?"

"Oh, ha ha, you're hilarious"

"Is that lip I hear candidate?" she asked, the mood turning very serious, very quickly.

"Wha- No, I mean – No ma- No sir- I mean-"

"Calm down Peter Mills, don't embarrass yourself." She said smirking at the flustered boy.

"Buchanan! Get your ass in here. We need to get back!" Kelly yelled toward her,

"Woah, my real name. Poppa must be mad. I'll see you back at the house Peter Mills."

As she sauntered off, she wondered if the candidate was in fact ogling her finely toned ass, just like the rest of the boys…and Shay of course.

Firehouse 51

Packing up the gear from their last call, Sasha was getting frustrated with Kelly and his constant ranting about the "incompetence" of Truck. He had been this way since Andy's accident, of course he places full blame on Lieutenant Matt Casey, though she never agreed with that.

"Hey! Guy in the water?" Kelly yelled out to Casey, "how bout guy with his head up his ass?"

"Kelly stop it!" Sasha tried to intervene,

"You handle your firefighters, I'll handle mine." Casey stated,

"That's a nice theory, Casey. How bout givin it a try"

"Casey that's enough. It was one mistake. Not that big of a deal." Sasha was getting fed up with their childlike bickering

"Know what! I'm gettin real tired of your bull Severide"

"I don't care what you're tired of" at this point, it wasn't even about the mistake that occurred at the last accident site anymore, she thought as she rolled her eyes, turning away from the scene.

"Hey!" the Chief yelled, in between his punches, "I thought you all should know that I AM gonna fight that Dick that slept with my wife. At Saturday's Drop-a-Cop."

"You go Chief!" Sasha yelled from inside the rig, trying to tidy things up,

"Or we could all just throw the gloves on right now." Sasha could hear his anger and frustration coming out about the situation. Especially after the chat he'd had with the 2 Lieutenants earlier in their shift, "Beat the hell outta each other. Maybe when the Mayor comes on Saturday, that's what he sees. Truck versus Squad. Old as the CFD so deal with it."

There was a silence that seemed to bring the firefighters in, "We all lost Darden. A month ago, Friday. And that ain't changing. So maybe we should."

Sasha sat at the edge of the rig, watching as the Chief aimed his last comment toward Casey and Kelly. The other firefighters were starting to go back to their previous tasks, trying to escape the tension, but Sasha had other ideas.

"Jeez Lt, put some clothes on. You'll scare the neighbourhood off with those boy nipples," she snarked.

"Shut up. You love it when I'm naked."

"Behind closed doors Lieutenant. Behind closed doors." She winked at him sauntering away.

She didn't, however, notice the young candidate Peter Mills following the conversation between all three Lieutenants. He rather awkwardly looks away, feeling a pang of jealousy at the comradery between Lt. Severide and Lt. Buchanan. He knew friendship that easy going came from years of being together through the academy, candidacy and now both being Lieutenants on Squad 3. But some would say it wasn't the friendship between the two, that he was jealous of…but the underlying sexual tension between them.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a few hours later when Firehouse 51 saw a familiar blue van pulling up the driveway, everyone knew it was Heather Darden. It was just Casey that went out to greet the widow with a box containing her late husband's belongings. Sasha, more than anything, wanted to go out and embrace the mother of 2 but knew that Heather was lost in her grief and anger, some of it aimed at the young Lieutenant. Heather Darden had made it clear that she didn't wish to ever set foot in Firehouse 51, and most people understood that. Having lost her beloved husband only a month ago, and now raising 2 young boys who were still confused about their circumstances, Sasha could sympathise, and so she remained inside. She stood with Kelly who watched the exchange between the grieving widow and Truck Lieutenant, he was sad and hurt that Heather would rather converse with the man that he believed was responsible for his friend's death.

"She needs time Kelly. She'll come around" she said snaking an arm around his shoulders and nuzzling into him.

"Yeah..." he sighed shrugging her off and walking away.

She had noticed he'd been off for a little while now, she thought it was for sure just from Andy's death, but lately it seemed like something more. He was being more secretive and sneaking around and she wasn't liking where these signs were pointed. She knew it wasn't her place to question his decisions in his personal life, it's not like they were together, but he was still her best friend. And after losing Andy, she wasn't all that keen on losing another brother.

Next day

"Oooo Lieutenant Casey's making Saturday Corned Beef! I must be in heaven," Sasha exclaimed, making her way to the kitchen. The truck boys usually took over the lounge area, knowing that Severide and the Squad boys made a habit of marking their table as Squad territory. But Sasha was different, she liked coming and hanging out with 81, Joe Cruz being another bestie in the house.

"You still made the best Chicken Parmigiana I ever put in my mouth though," she heard Mouch call from his usual spot on the couch.

"Why did that sound oddly sexual Mouch?"

"I don't know what you're talking about little lady."

"Oh, dear God, I'm walking away from you now."

She snuck up behind Joe, wrapping arms around his torso, "So Casey, you picking a new side gig? Holly Homemaker?"

"Oh, ha ha, call everyone for chow."

Sasha turned around and barely above a whisper did she call for lunch. She swung back around to Casey with an eyebrow raised, "Really?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "What? I'm a growing girl. I don't wanna have to knock your boys on their asses before I get my protein in for the day." She smiled, eyeing up the platter of delicious meat

Casey rolled his eyes and called the rest of the house to the kitchen for lunch. She waited patiently till the truck Lieutenant officially set lunch, her soul focus was on the meaty platter in front of her. The guys from truck were already tucking in at the long table before the rest of Squad 3 made their way to the kitchen. She could tell from the way that Kelly was carrying himself that he wasn't all that into Casey making lunch. When she saw that he eyed up the platters that Matt had been slaving over but diverted to eating an apple she spoke up,

"Really Kelly? Stop being so childish please?"

He looked to her then to Casey and finally bit into the apple swaggering back out to his leather chair outside. She just rolled her eyes and gave Casey a sympathetic look before turning back to her food. She knew that Casey had followed Kelly outside but knew that the boys needed to sort their problems out on their own.

Later that night

Sasha and Joe were sitting at the table, playing an intense game of 'Go-Fish' when she heard Otis and the others talking about the Mayor's visit. She was on the winning end of the game when Casey told Truck 81 they'd be going for a ride to watch Chief Bowden's boxing match.

"You lose by default!"

"Hey, no fair. I have to obey my commanding officer!"

"Not my problem Cruz. You owe me beer and pretzels. I will expect my reward before next shift."

He rolled his eyes and followed his company out to their rig.

After about 10 minutes she heard Otis' commentary coming through the house radio. Sasha thought Mr Brian Svonecek could actually be quite the entertainer sometimes, he definitely made her laugh. Capp and Hadley joined her sitting around the radio listening in on the fight updates for the firefighters versus policemen boxing match.

"What's that?" she hadn't noticed Kelly coming over as well,

"That is Otis" Capp said. It seemed to interest Kelly and he made Sasha get out of her seat so she could sit on his lap. She turned the radio up so that everyone could hear more clearly,

"Chief Bowden won back in 1992..." she heard him giving a brief history about the beef between their esteemed Chief Bowden and the man who took his second wife back in the day.

"There goes the bell, and here we go"

She could feel Kelly rubbing small circle on her back with his thumb. It was comforting knowing that even though she stood up for some of the truck boys, and was constantly wanting the feud between the commanding Lieutenants to end, that she still had her best friend there. Even if he was up to something.

"1. 2. 3 to the chin. Bowden's already in trouble folks."

She was getting frustrated now,

"Come on Chief!" she exclaimed, while her squad friends sniggered.

The chief finally started getting some momentum in the fight when the alarm bells went off

 _Accident building fire. 241 South Franklin Street. Ambulance 61. Engine 51. Truck 81. Squad 3._

Gearing up, the team made their way to the rig, the girls in 61 having already left and Truck 81 at the boxing match. It wasn't unusual for things like that to happen. Just when things seem to be quiet, or something important was about to happen, the Firehouse gets called out in full force.

Approaching the burning building, Sasha could already see the billowing flames trying to escape in search of Oxygen. It was a fire like this that started her Candidacy at 51. Not a night she liked to remember.

Of course Squad arrived after Truck had entered, them having been closer to the scene. It made her wonder how the new candidate was doing on his first fire. Truck 81 had already managed to get most of the residents out of the building before Squad had showed, but that was when a loud collapse inside the building was heard. The chief had alerted them to the fact that Casey and Hermann were both in the basement.

Sasha followed Kelly into the building searching for the collapse sight and the fallen firefighters. Their pass alarms could be heard blearing, which was not a great sign. Severide called for a ladder to the 5th floor, west side window to get Otis and Vargas out of the building safely, then turned to assess the scene where the motionless firefighters lay.

"Get me ropes." He called to Capp, "Cannon and me will go down."

The team hooked Severide and Buchanan up to a rope pulley system and anchored themselves to the floor above,

"Down. Down. Lower." They both relayed to their teams before touching down on the ground "Offline."

Severide went to assess Hermann while Sasha went for Casey. She heard him coughing a bit, a good sign that his body was still fighting the smoky environment. Hermann on the other hand didn't seem to be reacting to anything which was never a good sign.

"Lieutenant. Get up." She yelled, hoping Casey could walk and be able to hold his weight. "Can't miss the Mayor's visit, Casey. You alright?"

"It's cooking down here. We need to get Hermann out now." Severide yelled urgently into his radio. The two other Lieutenants turned to see Severide turning Hermann over and noticing he wasn't getting any air through his smoke mask. So, Kelly quickly took his own off and putting it over Christopher's face, in the hopes that what little Oxygen he could get from the mask was enough to keep him alive till he got outside.

The team worked quickly to get Hermann up to stable ground and out of the burning building as quickly as possible. Not an easy feat in barely any visibility and an unconscious firefighter. The hooked Sasha and Hermann up to the pulley system and the team up top pulled them up. She and Capp then went on to carry Hermann out to the Paramedics, although she wanted to, she didn't dare look back. She had to focus on the barely conscious man in her arms, not the 2 stuck on the basement level.

When they reached Shay and Gabby, Capp and Sasha helped lift Hermann onto the gurney, waiting to hear the paramedics' assessment of his health. Though when she saw that he was in good hands she turned back to the building, wanting to run back in, but the Chief stopping her.

"They'll be fine Cannon, no one is going back in."

She knew better than to question her Chief's decisions, he had personal experience with allowing firefighters into buildings when they shouldn't.

"Yes sir."

She could hear the stress in Gabby's voice as she assessed Hermann, and she was worried…but she still hadn't seen Kelly come out of the building. Then she heard a group of coughing fits and knew the others had made it out.

No matter how many burning buildings she ran into, she always felt the stress that came with knowing her best friend was still in danger. She didn't particularly care about the arrival of the Mayor, only that her Squad members were out and safe.

She looked around and saw the huge smile on the candidates face. He must've been stoked at the results of his first fire.

"Candidate! Congratz on your first fire. You can now call yourself a firefighter." She called over to him with an equally big smile of her own. She turned back to Capp who was giving her a knowing smirk and wiggling his eyebrows,

"Shut it cue ball." They laughed making their way back into the rig, preparing to get back home.

After shift, while everyone was getting ready to leave the firehouse, she noticed Kelly in the kitchen, eating a piece of Casey's corned beef.

"Well well well, he finally caved. I knew you couldn't resist Saturday Corned Beef."

She smiled when he turned to smirk at her, "Well I am a growing boy."

"Yeah yeah, let's go get a drink and head over to Lakeshore."

She smiled linking arms with her long time best friend.

Later

They made their way into the waiting room of the hospital finding nearly the entire Truck team together waiting for updates on their friend and brother. She quickly made her way over to sit on Joe Cruz, making herself comfortable in his lap. The whole lot of them looked like they needed long baths and 10 hours sleep, but here they were, waiting to make sure Hermann was going to be okay. That's what it meant to be a part of Firehouse 51, to be a part of their family. They were supposed to be there for one another, for the good and the bad. Hopefully they would continue getting back on that path, after all they had been through and were going to go through, that is what they were going to need.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 – S01E02

 _ **Hey guys, thanks for the favourites and follows. Really appreciate it :D This is literally just something I do when I don't feel like studying or don't do anything at work**_ _ **?**_ _ **In this chapter, you'll see that Sasha's father's name is Ross Buchanan – which is different from what it actually is in the series – I starting writing this before I actually checked what his name was. I mean, they only ever mention it like once in one of those awkward guilt shaming conversations between Bennie and Bowden. Feel free to review and maybe even suggest a direction you feel I should take the character, or if you think I've made mistakes. I'm all about that constructive criticism. So yeah thank you.**_

 _Starbucks_

"I'll just have a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows thanks"

Sasha smiled at the teenager behind the cash register, giving him a slight wink before adding a $10 bill to the tip jar. Kelly had already picked his coffee up and walked off to bring his car around. Her weekend had been boring, without the adrenaline of being on shift. It's not that she wasn't grateful for the break between shifts as it made for a great resting period, but a lot of the time she found herself bored out of her mind.

"Sweet thing like you, why so much sugar?"

She turned to see what kind of weirdo thought that that line was okay. She looked up into the dark brown eyes of one Detective Antonio Dawson.

"Well let's just say I have a cute dentist that I like to visit" she said with an exaggerated wink, making the detective chuckle, "How've you been Dawson?"

"Oh you know, just catching bad guys, protecting the people" he said pretending to flex his biceps beneath his black stretch tee, "just the usual Hero gig."

"Oh," Sasha noted with raised brows, "well we the people do thank you sir. But I thought heroes wore capes?"

"This just happens to be my secret identity," he responded stepping closer to whisper in her ear "can you keep a secret?"

Sasha knew her cheeks would've been red as anything, they always were when she got nervous. She knew that she shouldn't have let Antonio make her feel that way, she knew about his wife and family, but that's just what they had been like since they met.

"My lips," she muttered under her breath, "are sealed."

He smiled and went to respond before his phone went off, "Duty calls, I'll talk to you later"

"Yeah, later Dawson." Saluting to him as he made his way out of the Café smiling the whole way.

Antonio Dawson was just a beat cop when he met Sasha Buchanan, and it was definitely not under the best circumstances. Had it not been for Trudy Platt's friendship and respect for her father, Sasha would've been looking at a different life with a Class A misdemeanour for nudity and another for public intoxication.

She smiled at the memories of a shocked Antonio handcuffing a very intoxicated Sasha while Sergeant Platt watched on. She remembered slurring some ridiculous line about cuffs and kink to the rookie patrolman and enjoying the cringe cross his face.

She was brought out of her memories when her order was called out. She turned to make her way out of the café when she was suddenly assaulted by little munchkins. She squealed in delight when she saw it was the Darden boys, "Oh my goodness, it's my handsome little men." She smiled up at Heather. Sasha knew that Heather had been having a hard time with losing Andy, and was concerned that she hadn't reached out for any help, even with the boys.

"Hey Sash,"

"Heather, it's so good to see you" she smiled, trying not to portray any sadness or pity. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one and it was the pity in people's eyes that annoyed her to no end, "How's school going for everyone? And mom, how's work?"

The boys started rattling off about how hard Maths was and how fun gym class was. She always loved hearing about the boys and their lives, Andy's family never failed to brighten her day. But when she saw how uncomfortable Heather was, she guessed she'd seen Kelly on the way in.

"Well ya know, I think we are going to have to have a movie night, just to give your mom a night off from the chaos I'm sure you monsters are causing," Sasha tried to make sure not to openly mention their father, not knowing how settled the boys were yet. She chuckled a little when the boys started jumping around agreeing to a movie night with their 'aunt'. "Well look, I have to get off and make sure your Uncle Kelly hasn't scratched the car. So, you just get your mom to call me when she needs a night off and you've both finished your homework, yeah?" her eyes moved up to Heather's hesitant ones, "Ok give me a hug. I'll talk to you guys later okay? Love you"

Sasha made sure to leave before Heather could agree or disagree to the plan, quickly making her way to Kelly. She had a feeling that Kelly and Heather's interaction must not have been a great one and knew that Kelly would no doubt be in a mood once she got to him. She tried her hardest not to bring up seeing the Darden's as they made their way to the Firehouse.

 _House Fire_

By the time they reached the 51, both rigs were called away to a house fire. She was excited to get back into action, and to hopefully get Kelly's mind off what happened that morning. But once they reached the house, the fire was extinguished easily by Truck 81. Due to Squad's lack of participation in venting the houses, Sasha made herself busy by organising some of the smaller appliances and tools within the Squad 3 rig.

"Hey! Candidate! 1 hand on the beam Candidate, I don't care if you're carrying a dam cow. Men die when they relax."

She heard Severide yelling and poked her head out. She looked up to see the young Peter Mills with an Axe in one hand and the other hanging free,

"Okay Severide, he's got it."

"Yeah well he better." Severide whispered angrily at Sasha. He rolled his eyes as once again his best friend and subordinate was trying to defend the candidate. She looked to Peter Mills then to Casey,

"He's right, you know, one hand on the beam." Casey said pointedly, not wanting to scold the Candidate but not wanting him to make that mistake again.

"I know, I'm sorry" even Pete knew his mistake and looked disappointed in himself.

Sasha ignored Kelly and his constant mood swings and continued with her previous task. It was one of the worst things about working with these boys. No matter how many times she tried organising things they never maintained it. It frustrated her like nothing else.

"Heeeey Cannon." Okay frustrated her like MOST other things.

"Hadley"

"If you didn't want to be treated like housewife, maybe you should try not cleaning up after your husband."

She rolled her eyes at Hadley's comment. It was true that she constantly found herself cleaning up Kelly's messes, both in and outside of work. But that was just because of the lifelong friendship that they had, nothing more. And it pissed her off that Kevin Hadly constantly taunted her about it and calling him her husband.

"If you didn't want to be treated like an asshole, you might wanna try not acting like one…. oh wait."

She watched him walk away frustrated that he hadn't managed to get under the female firefighter's skin, and heard a quiet chuckle from Tony up in the driver's seat.

 _Firehouse 51_

"Hey, hey, check it out" "Best benefit all year boys."

Sasha smiled knowing the boys were talking about the Fireman's barbeque. Everyone always has a say about the barbeque, she'd never missed one.

"You ever hear of fire fans Peter Mills?" Cruz asked

"Chicks who follow Firefighters like flies to honey."

Cruz and Sasha both looked at each other before correcting the Russian, "It's bees Otis. Bees."

"Whatever! We're still the honey."

Sasha pouted slightly and wrapped an arm around the young candidate, "Well except me. Some guys are just a little intimidated by a girl who can bench press more than him."

The boys in the room chuckled under their breaths, trying not to laugh aloud. Otis started asking Casey about their lame Truck emblem, but Sasha and Peter seemed to be in a world of their own while tidying up the kitchen together. Then the alarm went off. " _Smoke-eater in the house."_ came in over the intercom and they all filed out to the apparatus floor.

It was none other than their own Christopher Hermann, but it didn't look too good. He was walking with a cane and looked to be struggling to walk. A round of applause and cheer went off for their injured brother and died down for him to speak.

"They ticked a nerve in my leg. I may never walk straight again."

The pain on everyone's face was a testament to how key Hermann was to Firehouse 51, the look on Gabriella Dawson's face showed just how annoyed at herself she was, believing that she played a role in his injury and inability to be a fireman anymore.

Hermann was brought a comfy chair by the candidate and he began to relax in it, "Woah woah woah fellas, hang on a second. Are any of my kids around here? My wife or her parents?" to which Otis answered no. "The hell?" Hermann continued, his leg rising and shaking, and before anyone knew what was going on he was jumping around cheerfully, "I'm healed! It must've been livin with my dam in-laws that was breakin me down"

Everyone laughed with Christopher, glad that their brother would be back with them soon enough. Because Firehouse 51 just wasn't quite the same without him

 **Quick note: Okay so I've never been to Chicago or America at that, so I kind of have no idea about tipping or alcohol laws – I just have my best friend Wikipedia helping me out. So please don't get shitty with my writing if I get the misdemeanour or anything like that wrong. If I'm getting it constantly wrong, then for sure feel free to call me out** **?** **I've got my test tomorrow and a presentation next week so will try finish writing this episode in the next few days but I can't make promises :/**


	4. Chapter 4

Part 2

"This is Nicki Rutkowski, she's gonna be helping us out for the next month helping out with the payroll. Her father's one of my oldest friends so ya'll just treat her like she's your very own sister," the Chief declared, eyeing up Joe Cruz who had been unsubtly ogling the young woman.

"Thanks for having me," she said

"You're welcome. Don't screw up the checks," Hermann started, "The first and the fifteenth" he continued getting a round of laughter.

She responded to him joking that she would indeed screw something up, causing another round of chuckles from everyone. Everyone except Sasha. The female firefighter knew she had no right to be jealous or angry but she definitely did not like the way this new addition to Firehouse 51 was eyeing up Kelly. There was something about this girl that Sasha didn't like and she had a feeling that she would be causing some issues in the near future. Luckily Sasha was brought out of her thoughts by the alarm.

 _Accident. Multiple injuries. Squad 3. Truck 81. Engine 51. Ambulance 61._

And then they were off.

 _Accident Site: Building Collapse_

Approaching their destination, Sasha could see a huge dust cloud and lots of workers evacuating the area in their high visibility vests. She followed Kelly closely as they made their way up the stairs to assess the damage. She noted all the large pieces of concrete that had broken during the collapse as well as the 2 construction workers that had been caught beneath them.

Engine had relayed a fired hosed over the aerial, allowing their teams to make their way into the disastrous site. The members from Truck and Squad including herself made their way down in search of any more victims and to help the ones that they'd already found.

She laughed when she heard Dawson muttering about it being her first time sliding down the hoses, "Yeah, not quite as sexy as the pole I guess," earning a light chuckle from the paramedic.

She helped Capp get one of the victims hooked up to be hoisted then heard Severide call out to her.

"Need you to get down and see if there's any way to get him out."

She slowly made her way into the hole and met Peter,

"Hi Peter, I'm Sasha. Got my guys up top trying to figure out how to get you out of here alright doll?"

She looked down to see his left leg and right arm had been trapped beneath what she assumed was a half a tonne of concrete. This wasn't going to be easy and it was going to be a mess but she determined to help get this man home to his wife.

"Not as bad as it looks right?"

"Well Peter, I'm not gonna lie, it ain't pretty."

She quickly made her way around him, checking him for any other injuries, "Okay Peter, can you move your foot?" gesturing to the one trapped and unmoving.

"Haven't even felt it in half an hour," he replied, breathless, which indicated some kind of issue with his lungs.

"How's it looking Cannon?" Kelly yelled out

"Not good LT. legs trapped, this concrete isn't moving anytime soon. Need to get Dawson down here, I think he's got a haematoma compressing his lungs."

"Alright, be careful down there. The foundations are still too unstable to get anything else down to move the debris."

"Got it Kelly. Alright Peter, I'm going to give you this helmet to protect you from any more of that falling debris." She said, giving him her helmet. He didn't need any more injuries on top of the hell he'd obviously been through.

"Do me one favour sweetheart?" Peter said, his eyes desperately meeting hers, "No lies."

"Fair enough. Okay, here's the thing Peter, I think you've had some kind of blunt force trauma that is causing you to bleed internally. That's what's causing the shortness of breath. Your foot, is the least of your problems right now. In my opinion, if you wanna live and get out here…. I'm not entirely convinced that your foot will be coming with you."

He was speechless, trying to process what the female firefighter has so bluntly relayed to him. He nodded his head, barely wrapping his mind around what she'd said, "Okay. Alright. But you are going to get me out of, here right?"

She looked into his eyes, not wanting to tear down his hopes of getting out, "I promise you, I'm going to do everything I can to get you home to your wife. You've got a great team working get this figured out." She turned up toward the opening, "Kelly! We need to get this hole opened up!"

She heard Casey giving Joe Cruz the 'go-ahead' to start up the saw to cut through the metal bars. But as soon as the boys were making progress, the building began shaking, the foundation giving out. A big piece of concrete fell and hit Sasha's head, knocking her unconscious with a mild bleed soaking her hair with red. Peter was yelling to her, trying to wake her up, but it caused him a great amount of pain, forcing him to stop.

"Help!" he tried yelling for one of the other firefighters to help her but they were all trying to move around the unstable ground.

"Sasha! Call out!" When Kelly got no reply from his second in command he went over to the opening and saw her lying under some rubble, "Casey! I need you to get me a line down there."

"It's too unstable Severide."

Sasha started coming to, she could hear the others yelling up top about the building coming down. She slowly sat up, her head was throbbing but she had a job to do before she could get out.

"You dam near gave me a heart attack sweetheart. You were out for a few minutes."

She smiled up at Peter, knowing that the fact that he was awake and talking after that second quake meant he hadn't been injured any further. "Can't get rid of me that easily Peter. Kelly! How are you going with getting a line in here?"

"Sasha, dammit. Get your damn helmet on."

"No can-do LT, now get me a dam line down here. He needs to get out."

Kelly rolled his eyes. He knew how stubborn Sasha could be, she always had been, but this was just plain stupid. "I swear to God I'm gonna kill her," he muttered to himself. He went up to Dawson who had just finished helping out another victim, "Dawson! I need you to call in a Trauma Surgeon. There's no way we're gonna be able to move that debris, and she said he's not looking good."

"Yeah, could take a while though."

"Yeah, I know. Oh, and I need you to take a look at her. She was unconscious and won't come out till he's okay."

"Sure thing."

He watched the paramedic make her way over to the opening, calling for a trauma surgeon over the radio.

Meanwhile Sasha was trying to keep Peter alert as she waited for more help. The adrenaline was still pumping in her veins, so she couldn't feel any pain. But judging by the amount of blood that had been slowly making its way down her back, she figured the was a bit of damage to her head. She knew it was a mistake to give the victim her helmet, but she didn't regret it.

"Tell me how you got into this line of work Sasha,"

"I've wanted to be a firefighter my entire life. My dad was a firefighter and my best friends as well. So it just made sense."

"Well sweetheart, today, I'm glad for it."

"Alright, Trauma surgeon is en route. They said he's about 15 minutes out." Gabriella called from above.

"This guy doesn't have 15 minutes Dawson."

"I know, but that's the quickest they could do."

Sasha sighed, knowing exactly what she needed to do. She looked to Peter who had resigned to the fact that this female firefighter was going to have to cut his foot off, in this dusty hole, with God knows what kind of handyman tools she had available.

"Get the surgeon on the phone. Tell him he's going to have to talk me through what to do. We don't have 15 minutes."

She didn't hear anything more from Gabby and assumed she was trying to get the surgeon on the phone.

"You married Miss Sasha?" Peter asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No sir,"

"Don't wait too long," she smiled at the guy as he started talking about his wife and how they met. He was smiling as he reminisced about his life with his wife, Sasha sense that he had all but given up hope of getting out of the situation alive. He started coughing and blood started to splutter out of his mouth, this was bad. Really bad.

"Sasha, find a vein and get this Saline in."

She looked up and saw Shay lowering a saline bag, "I need to take the foot off Shay. Someone needs to get the surgeon on the phone. Otherwise he's not going to make it!"

Another quake hit and luckily this time it was smaller, "Buchanan, we need to pull back. The building is going to give." She heard the Chief's frantic voice over her radio.

"Negative Chief. Can't leave Peter behind. Someone needs to bring me a God damn saw. Right now."

She could hear the Chief chattering on about pulling back so she took off her radio so she could focus on helping this poor man get home.

"He's right. You should go."

"No can do Peter. I already told you, I'm gonna- "

"I know. But I can't in good conscience let you get hurt or worse because of me."

She wanted to get out of there so badly, but she couldn't, "then it's a damn good thing I'm the boss here. So, you need to stop talking and conserve your energy."

The throbbing in her head was getting worse, she noticed, but she was trying to ignore it. She hadn't realised it but Kelly had started lowering himself down with a saw following behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled at him.

Instead of answering her, he wrapped some netting around her, shoving a helmet on her head as well. "I can see how much blood is in your hair. You're out of here. I'll take it from here."

"You can't do this Kelly!" she yelled, getting annoyed at her Lieutenant.

"I'm the Squad Lieutenant here. And I'm ordering you out of the hole. Now."

Sasha's eyes went wide as she realised Kelly was trying to assert dominance over her, like she was candidate. Just as she was about to retort about them being of the same rank, Peter spoke up

"Go on Sweetheart. He's got this."

The anger left her face as she looked down at Peter. Arguing with Kelly was just wasting time, time that he didn't have. "Fine," she looked defiantly at Kelly, "I'm going."

Kelly yelled that she was online and she was hoisted up to freedom. It was Shay that came over to check her out, "Alright you're going to the hospital."

She tried to shoo the paramedic away, not wanting to be fussed over. That earnt her a hard glare from the fiery blonde. Sasha didn't want to leave the site till she knew that Peter was freed, but the Chief wasn't hearing a word of it. Already annoyed that the female firefighter had openly defied his order and CFD protocol and being hurt in the process, Sasha's request was swiftly denied and she was loaded into another ambulance.

 _Lakeshore Medical Centre_

Sasha was wheeled into Lakeshore, having passed out on the way to the hospital, as her body had finally surrendered to injuries she had sustained. She woke up in an ugly hospital gown in an unfamiliar hospital room, feeling dizzy and sore and tired. The first thought that came to mind was Peter and whether Kelly managed to get him out or not.

She asked a nurse that was passing by if she had any news about the construction workers from the disaster site, but the nurse knew nothing. When Sasha tried getting out of bed, the nurse was quick to get her lying back down. The middle-aged nurse left the room to look up any news about Peter and promised to return to Sasha with anything she found, if Sasha remained in her bed.

It was 10 minutes later when a Doctor came in followed by Hallie,

"It's good to see that you're finally awake Miss Buchanan. You had us worried for a while there."

"Yeah well, I like to keep everyone on their toes," she joked

"Well you certainly did that. Now we've examined your X-rays and Head CTs, and it doesn't look your head injury is too severe. You do however have quite a bad concussion and slight bruising to your brain. This means you'll have to stay overnight to be monitored. Now I have to ask why you weren't wearing a helmet with falling debris on a collapse site."

Sasha sighed, knowing this wouldn't be the only time she would be questioned about that decision. "I gave it to the victim, Peter. He was trapped beneath large pieces of concrete. His arm and leg were trapped and he didn't need a head injury on top of all that."

The doctors both looked at each other before turning back to the firefighter, "Right, well we'll just note that down. You have some visitors in the waiting area hoping to come see you. Shall I send them in?"

She rolled her eyes before asking whether the boys looked pissed. The Doctor chuckled, saying that they were more worried for her than anything.

For the second time in as many weeks the members of Firehouse 51 made their way through the halls of Lakeshore Hospital to see another member of their family. Joe Cruz was the first through the door to her room and rushed over to give her a hug.

"Jesus Cannon. You can't scare us like that."

"Sorry boys. How is Peter? Does anyone know?"

There was a solemn look passing through the group. It was Kelly who finally spoke up, "Can you guys give us a minute?" he said

They nodded, giving Sasha quite well wishes before filing out leaving the Chief and 2 Squad Lieutenants.

"Peter was evacuated from the site and transported here. He coded twice in the ambulance on his ride here. He is currently in a medically induced coma. The injuries he sustained in the initial collapse were just too much for his body to handle. The Doctors are waiting for his wife to arrive." The Chief told her.

She was shocked, she had tried so hard to get him out. She'd promised to get him out and she couldn't keep her end. "You did everything you could Sasha. This isn't your fault." She looked away from Kelly to the window. She didn't want to cry but the tears were already falling down her face. She was a firefighter, she knew what the job demanded and emotional attachments to victims was not one of them.

"Georgie. His wife's name is Georgie."

The room was silent, but Kelly and Bowden were conversing with their eyes, knowing that they would need to bring up Sasha's actions on site.

"Buchanan, there's something else we need to discuss."

"Go ahead Chief, rip the band-aid as they say."

He nodded looking right into her eyes, "You are a great firefighter. A hard worker and a talented member of Squad 3. But today you were careless, insubordinate and you broke protocol." She looked down in shame, knowing this scolding was well deserved. "It is because of these actions as well as a lack of medical clearance that I am suspending you from active duty. You will be placed on medical furlough pending evaluation of your ability to be a part of Squad 3. You can speak with your union rep if you believe these consequences to be unfair. Do you understand?" he may not have yelled, but sometimes Sasha found his quite speeches to be scarier than the loud ones.

"Yes sir, fair enough."


	5. not an update!

Hey guys, sorry it's been a while but I've finally finished studying for the year and now I have time to actually relax and rewatch the show. I'll be making some changes to the chapters I've already put out and adding some new ones too.


	6. Chapter 5

Episode 3:

 **Note: Sorry this took so long to update, I kind of struggle to find the motivation to write this chapter as it is not fully cannon.**

Suspension was not suited to Sasha. Not at all. It had been a week since she had been released from the hospital and another week away from being able to join her Firehouse brothers and sisters. She'd spent majority of her week at her grandparents' home, pottering around cooking and cleaning. The young firefighter wasn't overly fond of time spent alone in her apartment and what better way to burn some energy than to help around the house that she was raised in.

Another way for her to get out of the house was to visit her new favourite candidate in his natural habitat. As she approached the diner she could see the frustration on Peter Mills' face while he served two teenagers. She smiled as she entered the diner, hearing the ringing of the overhead bell gaining the attention of who Sasha could only assume was the young candidate's sister, Elise.

"Hi, I'll be with you in a seco-"

"Oh take your time. I'm just here to see Peter for a second," Sasha interrupted her.

"Oh, oh, are you from the firehouse?"

"Yeah, I'm Sasha Buchanan, Squad 3." She smiled extending her hand,

"I'm Elise, Peter's sister. Umm Pete is just over there if you wanna take a seat, it was nice meeting you"

"Yeah, might have to stick around and help you out. You guys look pretty swamped, and doesn't young Peter Mills have to be on shift pretty soon?"

"Yeah, hopefully my mom will be back soon. Anyways take a seat and I'll bring you some coffee," Elise said turning away to serve other customers.

Sasha sat at one of the stools along the bar watching as Elise flittered around the diner, smiling and serving customers while Peter looked overly frustrated about being in the building. She glanced at the clock, noticing that if Peter Mills didn't leave, he would in fact be late to shift, no doubt earning himself some form of punishment.

It surprised her when Joe Cruz had called her to catch her up on the goings on at 51, and he informed her of Otis' newfound bullying mentality. Knowing that he had just spent 5 years being the firehouse grunt she partially understood why he suddenly the need to haze the new candidate.

She heard Peter Mills sighing heavily as we swung right by her to the grill. She grinned at the fact that he had breezed right by her, so she snuck up behind him, reaching up to whisper in his ear,

"Rough day there, Candidate?"

The young candidate jumped a little, "Ah! Jesus! Sasha, what are you doing here?"

"Well since I don't have work for another week so I thought I'd see what all the hoopla was about. Shouldn't you be gone by now?"

Young Peter Mills rolled his eyes, "I would be gone, if my mother had shown up on time. I'm going to be late and Casey's gonna kill me," Sasha smiled at the young candidate's stress levels rising as he turned back to the cooking food, "And then this little shit asks-"

Sasha had to interrupt him before he had a stroke from all the stress, "Stop. Give me that," she said pointing to the spatula in his hand. "You go to work and I'll help your sister out till your ma gets here."

"Really? You'd do that?" he asked, already handing her the dish, "this is for the kid over there, thank you, thank you thank you! I owe you one Cannon" he continued rushing to take his apron off, kissing her forehead and rushing out the door.

Sasha was slightly stunned, she honestly didn't think Peter Mills would actually just leave her to it. The sizzle from the grill broke her out of her trance and she quickly tended to it, making sure it would be nice and crispy.

Sasha went about helping Elise wait tables and serving customers, the nice ones and the assholes. When Peter's mother arrived with the news that one of the diner workers was sick and would not be able to make it to her shift, Sasha put her hand up to take on a shift. Ingrid Mills didn't really know how to feel about allowing this stranger to come into their diner and work, but Elise had assured her mother that the young firefighter would be fine.

Ingrid Mills couldn't help but think but think back to Ross Buchanan who had been a firefighter alongside her husband. Knowing the things she knew about their Squad, Ingrid knew that she owed this young lady enough to at least let her try out at the diner. Sasha had informed Ingrid of her suspension and how long it was till she could resume active duty, and had insisted on helping out around the diner as she had nothing productive to do with her time off, as there was only so much cleaning she could do at her grandparents' house.

 _Firehouse 51_

Filing out to the doors, the boys from Truck 81 made their way past the Squad table to the apparatus floor, following their lieutenant,

"Mills, listen up. This is a downed firefighter assessment. A fellow firefighter will be on the floor in full gear with his pass alarm going off. You'll crawl in from 10 feet away, deactivate his alarm, check for air flow and call in…."

Otis watched his lieutenant instruct the young candidate on how to conduct the drill with glee, having had to perform the drill over and over, numerous times during his long candidacy. Putting the candidate through hell felt like payback for the long years he himself had spent as the grunt in the house, so he hoped that the young Peter Mills would suffer as he had for a while longer.

"….to the extraction point which will be North gate."

The candidate smiled at the simplicity of the task, till Casey brought out the blacked out mask that the drill would be performed with. The candidate looked at the mask and realised how hard this was actually going to be, while Otis chuckled,

"No showin up late t this one candidate" he said, trying to get his Truck brother to see the humour torturing Peter Mills. Lieutenant Casey, however, did not see the funny side and decided to punish Otis by making him do the drill too.

"Slowest time gets to mop the apparatus floor" which the rest of the team laughed at.

As Casey lead his girlfriend, Dr Hallie Thomas, away to enjoy some lunch, the boys set themselves up for the drill. The members of Squad 3 sniggered about the whole situation and decided on placing bets on whether the candidate would win.

"You think he'll break the house record?" Hadley asked his boys,

"Doubtful. He better hopes he doesn't break it."

Kelly just smirked knowing exactly what would happen if the candidate managed to beat the house record, and the consequences of doing so.

The members of Squad 3 and Truck 81 watched on as the candidate excelled at the drill but narrowly missed the house record buy 4 seconds. As Otis went on about losing to the candidate and blaming his fatigue on the lunch Peter Mills had made earlier, Peter went off to the bathroom to clean up.

"You look mighty pleased with yourself" Gabby said, seeing the victorious grin on the candidate's face.

"Downed firefighter assessment, almost beat the house record," he replied grinning at his exceptional results.

"Oh yeah, how's Otis taking it?"

"I dunno, but the floors were looking pretty dirty," Peter thrived on this win, especially after taking Otis' crap for a while now.

"Is that a little cockiness I sense there, Peter Mills?"

"Can't be cocky if you can back it up?"

"Oh really? Well I doubt Lieutenant Buchanan would take that attitude candidate,"

"What?" He asked in confusion,

"Oh yeah, Cannon's the one who holds that record and let me tell you, young Peter Mills, she would whip your ass if it came down to it."

"Seriously? Buchanan? Wow, I would've though Severide or Casey but not Bu-"

Gabby chuckled at the young firefighter's remarks about the female lieutenant, "Oh, you better hope she doesn't hear you say that. She can be pretty scary when challenged. Especially when you compare her to Severide." She grinned at Peter's reaction, "You're lucky you didn't beat her record by the way. She definitely would've made you do it again just so she could beat you. It's what happened when she was a candidate."

"Really? She's that competitive?"

"I think it was more to do with her needing to prove that she was good. That she could hang with the boys and all that crap."

With that she walked off, letting Peter Mills process their little talk.


	7. Chapter 6

"Can I get you anything else, detective?" Ingrid Mills asked the man sitting in the booth.

She'd been suspicious of the plain clothed police officer since he had arrived. He'd arrived at the diner for lunch and had not left once he finished his Mac and Cheese. He had sat there for another 30 minutes watching something that she couldn't quite pin point.

"Just another coffee please."

Ingrid followed his eyeline that lead to the diner's latest hire – Lt. Sasha Buchanan. She turned to the detective and saw him eyeing up the young firefighter, watching her laugh and flirt with customers in her new uniform. Ingrid had been apprehensive at first, when Elise had suggested taking the firefighter on at the diner, but there she was stuck between a rock and a hard place and hiring the suspended lieutenant was the best option she had.

"Do you know our newest addition to the staff?" she asked, hoping that this girl wasn't attracting some dangerous or unwanted attention.

"Ah yeah, we're old friends. I was hoping to catch her for her lunch break, but you guys look swamped. I might have to come back another time."

 _Old friends_ she thought to herself _…right_. _It's been one day, and this girl already has an admirer._ Pouring him a cup of coffee, Ingrid made her way over to Sasha to give her a break not having realised that the girl hadn't been off her feet since she started working. Ingrid had to admit that Sasha did work very well with Elise on the floor keeping customers happy, not to mention that the firefighter had volunteered to help them out at the diner, just because.

"Sasha, the man in the leather jacket in the back was asking for you. I just wanted to make sure you knew him before I called someone to get rid of him"

Sasha searched out for the customer Ingrid was referring to then her eyes landed on the handsome features of one Detective Antonio Dawson. Excitement filled her body, something about the man just made her want to smile. Sasha knew it was wrong to feel the way she felt, the gold band on his left hand would always catch the light just to remind her that she shouldn't feel the things she felt.

"Well well well, I should call the police. Apparently, I have a stalker."

They both smiled, "Fortunately for you, I happen to be a police officer and may be able to help you out with your problem ma'am. I'm all about serving the citizens of Chicago to the best of my ability"

That smile never failed to make her hot she could feel her cheeks heating up. Seeing Antonio always made her feel like a freshman talking to the Senior Quarterback at high school. Even after knowing Antonio since he was a rookie beat cop, Sasha felt like every time she saw the detective was like meeting him all over again…. not the actual first time, that included the nude freshman being arrested in the middle of RUSH.

"To what do I owe this pleasure handsome?"

"I actually need to talk to you about something, you got a few minutes?"

She nodded, now suspicious about what exactly he would have that could worry enough to add another frown line to his forehead. As she sat down to listen to what Antonio had to say, Sasha sensed that she was definitely not going to enjoy hearing whatever drama the older Dawson was about to rain down on her.

"It's about Casey, he's in some deep shit…." Antonio went into the details of Lieutenant Matthew Casey's current situation involving one Detective Hank Voight. When Antonio said that name, Sasha started to understand why Antonio was bringing all this up to her, even though he knew that she was currently suspended from the CFD.

Marco deLucci happened to be the man at the head of the Italian Mafia in Chicago, a dangerous man with dangerous connections including connections to one Hank Voight. Their relationship went back decades, back to before Marco found himself the head of the Italian Crime Syndicate when he was just a prospective soldier that had befriended a rookie cop. Their friendship had helped deLucci climb the ranks of the organisation and eventually became a beneficial connection that saw deLucci solidify his position as head of the family. Though the friendship between the 2 was well known, it was never something that could be proven by anyone trying to sink either of the Chicago power players.

As a young girl, Sasha had met Hank Voight once or twice, when her grandfather was trying to give up his life in the Crime family to take care of the orphaned Sasha. The only reason he was granted this was because Lucio deLucci was brother to the high rising Marco deLucci as well as the deep respect from Voight, the combination allowing him to safely separate himself from the Mafia without fear of retribution for abandoning the family. So, Sasha was realising that Antonio was probably hoping that she could shed some light on their connection or to warn Casey about the dangers of going up against a man like Voight….at least she hoped that was where the conversation was going.

"So, Gabby wants me to look into Voight and help Casey out in making sure this kid gets a little justice."

"Jesus, well, if anyone was going to stick up for the kid, it would be Matthew Casey. He's one of the most stand up guys you'll ever meet…even if it gets him in the shit. What do you need from me then?"

Antonio seemed stunned at the question, "What? I wasn't here to get anything from- "

"I know you know about Nonna's _association_ with Voight, so what do you need from me. Because you know as well as I do that- "

"Sasha, I didn't come here to get anything from you. I wanted to warn you about the shit storm that's going on at your firehouse for when you get back. In fact, I want you to stay far away from the situation with Voight. Because yes, I do know about that _association_ as well as others, but I don't want to find you in the middle of anything that could get you hurt"

It was Sasha's turn to be stunned at the conversation between the 2. Reaching across to take Antonio's hand and smiling, "Antonio Emmanuel Dawson, I am a firefighter. Everything about my job is a danger to me. It's in my nature to go head first into it, so you can bet your ass I'll be helping with this. You wouldn't be telling me this stuff if you didn't think I'd be able to help. So, tell me what you need."

Sasha had to compartmentalise the information that Antonio had given to her because for the time being she had something more important to do. Kelly had arrived at the diner, his head lowered and a sad expression across his face. He had come to recruit his oldest friend for one of the hardest tasks he'd ever had to do. The old man, Peter, who hadn't made it out of the structure collapse on her last shift, had asked Kelly to take a video to his wife so that he could say goodbye. Kelly had almost broken down and didn't have the strength to go to meet with Georgie alone and he knew that Sasha would want to be there when she saw the video.

They sat in the car out side of Peter and Georgie's home, a house they'd built and raised their family in for over 20 years. Kelly was struggling to will his legs to move as he looked up at the 2-story suburban home, how could he be the one to show this woman who he'd never even met before her husband's final words. Sasha on the other hand found it to be quite an honour that Peter had asked Kelly to do this, that Kelly could be the one to show this woman something that she can remember her late husband by, instead of a body that was recovered from a building site. She thought it was beautiful and sad that in his last moments of life, all he wanted to do was tell the woman he loved how much he loved her.

"Come on Kelly" Sasha quietly whispered.

She could see that they'd been sitting in front of the house for a good 20 minutes at this point. It upset her even more knowing that Georgie hadn't made a move to the door either, she figured that Georgie was probably not in any rush to see her husband's final words.

"We'll go inside, and she'll see the video and we can leave after that. Come on, the last thing she saw of her husband was his dead body. Don't let that be the- "

"I know." He snapped, "I just…. Just give me a sec."

Sasha knew that this was just what her lifelong friend was like, that sometimes there were calls that Kelly just couldn't shake and this happened to be one of them. There were calls that were easier to handle, the cut-and-dry ones where the victim is rushed to the Paramedics and taken away to a hospital and that's where the job ends for members of Squad 3…. then there were the others.

One in particular, Sasha recalled Kelly not handling well at all, it had happened when Kelly was a newly promoted Lieutenant for Squad 3. An elderly couple were babysitting what looked to be their grandchildren when the house had quickly gone up in flames, it didn't take long for the grandmother and 2 of the kids to be rescued…. but the grandfather and youngest child were stuck on the 2nd floor bedroom – Kelly had hesitated in making a call to save the them….it was the first time that Kelly had lost a brother in his Squad, but it wouldn't be the last. Chief Boden had told Kelly that it hadn't been his fault, that there were extreme circumstances at the site, but Kelly knew that he'd made a mistake, and would strive to never make that kind of mistake again.

"Come in with me please. I can't do this alone" he looked pleadingly at his best friend, knowing that he couldn't do this without her.

"Of course. We're in this together, right?"

"Right."


End file.
